First, let me begin by offering an observation based on years of classroom experience. The complaints that I hear most often from students if they respond negatively to reading assignments in compulsory literature courses usually include the following: (1) “I don’t get it.” (2) “What’s the point?” (3) “What does it mean?” Second, let me make the following promise: I am unlikely ever to include J.

After I made several earlier attempts in past years (false-starts) to read J. F. Powers’ MORTE D’URBAN (when, for reasons not related to the quality of the book, I had to set it aside without finishing it), I am now well on my way into reading and finishing what I am beginning to regard as one of the most intriguing and important novels of the 20th century.